Excel COUNT and COUNTA functions to count cells

This short tutorial explains the basics of the Excel COUNT and COUNTA functions and shows a few examples of using a count formula in Excel. You will also learn how to use the COUNTIF and COUNTIFS functions to count cells that meet one or more criteria.

As everyone knows, Excel is all about storing and crunching numbers. However, apart from calculating values, you may also need to count cells with values - with any value, or with specific value types. For example, you may want a quick count of all items in a list, or the total of inventory numbers in a selected range.

Microsoft Excel provides a couple of special functions for counting cells: COUNT and COUNTA. Both all very straightforward and easy-to-use. So let's take a quick look at these essential functions first, and then I will show you a few Excel formulas to count cells that meet certain condition(s), and clue you in on the quirks in counting some value types.

Excel COUNT function - count cells with numbers

You use the COUNT function in Excel to count the number of cells that contain numerical values.

The syntax of the Excel COUNT function is as follows:

COUNT(value1, [value2], …)

Where value1, value2, etc. are cell references or ranges within which you want to count cells with numbers.

In the modern versions of Excel 2016, Excel 2013, Excel 2010, and Excel 2007, the COUNT function accepts up to 255 arguments. In earlier Excel versions, you can supply up to 30 'values'.

For example, the following formula returns the total number of numeric cells in range A1:A100:

=COUNT(A1:A100)

Note. In the internal Excel system, dates are stored as serial numbers and therefore the Excel COUNT function counts dates and times as well.

Using COUNT function in Excel - things to remember

Below are the two simple rules by which the Excel COUNT function works.

If an argument(s) of an Excel Count formula is a cell reference or range, only numbers, dates and times are counted. Blanks cells and cells containing anything but a numeric value are ignored.

If you type values directly into the Excel COUNT arguments, the following values are counted: numbers, dates, times, Boolean values of TRUE and FALSE, and text representation of numbers (i.e. a number enclosed in quotation marks like "5").

For example, the following COUNT formula returns 4, because the following values are counted: 1, "2", 1/1/2016, and TRUE.

=COUNT(1, "apples", "2", 1/1/2016, TRUE)

Excel COUNT formula examples

And here are a few more examples of using the COUNT function in Excel on different values.

To count cells with numeric values in one range, use a simple count formula like

=COUNT(A2:A10)

The following screenshot demonstrates which types of data are counted and which are ignored:

To count several non-contiguous ranges, supply all of them to your Excel COUNT formula. For example, to count cells with numbers in columns B and D, you can use formula similar to this:

=COUNT(B2:B7, D2:D7)

Tips:

If you want to count numbers that meet certain criteria, use either the COUNTIF or COUNTIFS function.

If apart from numbers, you also want to count cells with text, logical values and errors, use the COUNTA function, which leads us right to the next section of this tutorial.

Excel COUNTA function - count cells with values (non-blank cells)

The COUNTA function in Excel counts the number of cells in a range that are not empty.

The syntax of the Excel COUNTA function is akin to that of COUNT:

COUNTA(value1, [value2], …)

Where value1, value2, etc. are cell references or ranges where you want to count non-blank cells.

For example, to count cells with value in range A1:A100, use the following formula:

=COUNTA(A1:A100)

To count non-empty cells in several non-adjacent ranges, use a COUNTA formula similar to this:

=COUNTA(B2:B10, D2:D20, E2:F10)

As you can see, the ranges supplied to an Excel COUNTA formula do not necessarily need to be of the same size, i.e. each range may contain a different number of rows and columns.

In some cases, you may be perplexed by the COUNTA function's result because it differs from what you see with your own eyes. The point is that an Excel COUNTA formula may count cells that visually look empty, but technically they are not. For example, if you accidentally type a space in a cell, that cell will be counted. Or, if a cell contains some formula that returns an empty string, that cell will be counted as well.

In other words, the only cells that the COUNTA function does not count are absolutely empty cells.

The following screenshot demonstrates the difference between Excel COUNT and COUNTA functions:

Tip. If you just want a quick count of non-blank cells in a selected range, simply have a look at Status Bar at the bottom right corner of your Excel window:

Excel COUNTIF function - count cells that meet one condition

The COUNTIF function is purposed for counting cells that meet a certain criterion. Its syntax requires 2 arguments, which are self-explanatory:

COUNTIF(range, criteria)

In the first argument, you define a range where you want to count cells. And in the second parameter, you specify a condition that should be met.

For example, to count how many cells in range A2:A15 are "Apples", you use the following COUNTIF formula:

=COUNTIF(A2:A15, "apples")

Instead if typing a criterion directly in the formula, you can input a cell reference as demonstrated in the following screenshot:

Count the number of cells in a range (ROWS and COLUMNS functions)

If you need to find out the total number of cells in a rectangular range, utilize the ROWS and COLUMNS functions, which return the number of rows and columns in an array, respectively:

=ROWS(range)*COLUMNS(range)

For example, to find out how many cells there are in a given range, say A1:D7, use the following formula:

=ROWS(A1:D7)*COLUMNS(A1:D7)

Well, this is how you use the Excel COUNT and COUNTA functions. Like I said, they are very straightforward and you are unlikely to run into any difficulty when using your count formula in Excel. If someone knows and is willing to share some interesting tips on to how to count cells in Excel, your comments will be greatly appreciated. I thank you for reading and hope to see you on our blog next week!

I have three worksheets two with the years dates in B3:NB3. the a1 column has text in it. I am trying to calculate how many time in a rolling 90 days the product in a1 sell mp I'm using this
=COUNTIFS(A1,"<=today()-90",'2016'!B4:NB4,"MP")

It count the MP but
ie if today is 5/24/16 it should not count any mp before 2/27/16

can you tell me what I'm missing. I'm getting "Value" in the output field

I want to count enteries in a column and then multiple the number of entries by a set number. In other words, I have a spreadsheet, where different columns have different values. IF an entry is made in column A, it should be counted as 1 entry. But the value of second column is double and that of third is x 5.

So I want to be able to count the number of entries in a particular column and then multiply it by 2/5/10. Whats the best formula for this?

I am using this formula =IF(MAX($A$4:A263)=SUMPRODUCT(1/COUNTIF($B$5:B264,$B$5:B264)),"",(SUMPRODUCT(1/COUNTIF($B$5:B264,$B$5:B264)))) For Serial Number but it shows the sr no after missed some columns. whereas the sr. number column should be nill until the next particular not comes.

A certain combination will only work for a specific column. Example:
Accident Class:
A
B
C
D
E
F
OHR
NR
Each of these only work with one word at a time, but all of the combinations for "A" need to be tracked in a column (A3) for example.
"B" would tracked in A4 and "C" would be tracked in A5 and so on. If B and ACV were in their respective columns (Say E5 and G5)on one sheet, then those 2 numbers would be tracked on another sheet on A3 as a number.

Hi,
I am trying to use countifs to count no of cell which meet multiple criteria where each criteria has got different no fo rows and column compare to other.
for example:
i want to count no of cell from column D,E and F if value in column A is equal to X.
Thanks in advance

Ok guys/girls i'm pulling my hair out with this formula, i'm fairly confident the problem is in the two cells with times in. cells h50:h5000 have two times combined in a cell with - as a division, all i need is the second part but using 'right' function doesn't appear to work as part of a larger countifs. these cells are imported and can be 1000's of rows long so creating another column to separate is awkward.

Hi, i have a certain name (wilium) in column A and against this name i have 2 option, 1 Done and 2 Inprogress. i want that i count done again wilium and count inprogress against wilium separately. which formula will work for it??

Svetlana - thank you for your blog. Your help on an array three years ago helped me greatly on my project. I have a new COUNTIF question. I have a file with 9895 rows of mailing information. The zip codes are either 5-digits or zip+4. I'm trying to count the number of zip codes in a few categories: 1) Number of 5-digit zip codes (I wrote that formula fine); 2) Number of zip codes that BEGIN with THREE specific numbers and DO NOT include any of the 5-digit zip codes I already counted. I can't seem to write a formula or array that gets me to the correct answer. I don't want to count any zip codes that INCLUDE the three specific numbers if they are NOT the first three numbers. I've used LEFT for a few formulas, but now I can't seem to eliminate those zip codes where the specific string is INSIDE the zip code, not the first three characters in the cell. Should the column of zip codes be a number or text? Here's my array attempt at counting: =SUM((LEN(LABELS!$B$2:$B$10000)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(LABELS!$B$2:$B$9896,"958","")))/LEN("958"))-G2-G3-G4-G7-G8-G9-G10-G11-G12 that I thought searches for zip codes that begin with "958" and subtracts the 5-digit searches I already completed, but it's returning a count with the "958" included in the zip. Any thoughts?

I have a column that has different cities in each cell some have just one city and some have Multiple destinations: city1, city2, city3. These cities overlap. Is there a function I can use to count all of "city 1"? I have tried =COUNTIF(F4:F29,"City 1 name") but it does not count the ones with multiple cities.

Please i need a formula for a discount of $37.9 given when a purchase below 49lbs to 47lbs and also a discount of $75.8 is given when a purchase below 47lbs to 46lbs is been made. please i need a formula fo this please

Thank you so much for your reply, really appreciate it. I tried the formula but it doesnt give me what am looking for.
This is the summary of the formula i need.
discount of $37.9/MT for every pound below 49lbs to 47lbs. And discount of $75.8/MT below 47lbs to 46lbs and rejection for outturn below 46lbs.
Discount of $5/MT for every nut above 210 to 215, and above 215 to be rejected.
Discount of $20/MT for every 1% above 10% to 12% above 12% to be rejected. please i need this formula assistance. Thank you.

So with this sample given, Sheet 1 B1 counted all "Dog" in Sheet 2. Sheet 1 B1,C1, and D1 is looking for A, B, and C, if all rows in in Sheet 2 says:
[Dog][A][A][A]
[Dog][B][A][A]
[Dog][B][B][A]
[Dog][A][A][A]
[Dog][A][B][A]

1. How to count cells in a row with certain color/s (I use only 2 colors) and return the result in another tab (summary).
2. How to make sure that additional rows in a sheet are counted? I can't highlight the whole column (as range) as I include notes at the bottom of the working area. At the moment, I specify a range but when my list goes beyond the range, and I forget to update the formula, I miss the additional rows and my count is wrong.

1 Here's a short tutorial about counting cells depending on their colours :)
2 Perhaps, you could extend the range in the formula, but I'm not entirely sure whether you need all the cells from additional range to count or only some of them. And if only some of them, how you decide which ones?

Hi,
I am trying to find the numbers of people from different districts, I have set all the details of people giving cascading options but in the analysis part, I want the numbers of districts chosen by the data collector, is there any particular formula? so that I can get these numbers of people were from this district and these from another district.
Thanks
Suresh,

Hi
I have a excel spreadsheet of members of a club I am running, the spreadsheet contains members details each member has a unique reference number ie, 1243199 etc etc, the members may then have joined more than one group within the club.

I need to be able to show how many members are members of either 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 groups.

Simon:
Without having your data in front of me I would say if you select the cells that contain the data you want to analyze and then click Insert/Table you can format the data into a table that you can quickly and easily sort and filter by member or club or whatever information is in the table.
If the columns don't already contain headers for each
piece of information, go ahead and create headers before you create the table. It makes things much easier to work with.
Depending on the number of members in your club, it might also be easy to create a Pivot Table to analyze this.
Base your Pivot Table on a table and the changes in the table will be reflected automatically in the Pivot Table.
There is a good explanation of Pivot Tables here on AbleBits. Just type "Pivot Table" in the search box and you'll see the link to Pivot Table for Beginners article.

I have a spreadsheet where patients are admitted at a certain time then discharged a certain time. I need a formula to count the number of patients that are in ER during a 1 hour time.
See table below.
In Column B I have the Admission time and in Column C I have the Discharge time.
If I have 33 pts admitted at different hours throughout the day, I would like a formula to count the number of patients that are in ER at 5:00 then at 6:00 then at 7:00 and so on.
Below is the table I have.
With manual counting I have 2 pts in ER at 5:00, 4 patients in ER at 6:00 and so one. Is there a formula for this.

Marlene:
If you want to count the number of patients admitted during a particular hour this is how I would do it.
Where the data is in A1:C34 including column labels;
To the right of this data add three columns. The first in D1 is labeled Admin Time, the second in E1 is labeled Sum of Admin Time and the third is in F1 and is labeled Time Wanted. Clearly you can label them as you see fit.
In D2 enter =MROUND(B2,"1:00") this will produce 5:00 using your first sample.
In E2 enter =COUNTIF(D2:D35,$F$2)
In F2 enter the time period you're looking to count.
So, you're telling Excel to look in the range D2 thru D35 for the value in F2. In the formula the F2 address is locked.
The cells holding the time should be formatted in the same type. I used Time 1:30PM for my practice sheet. This allowed me to quickly distinguish between AM and PM times.
I hope this works for you. Let me know if there's something else.

Hi, I am trying to create a formula that would count only dates that are after 12/31/2016 and that do not include NA or the blank cells. Right now I have =COUNTA(AO$7:AO16)-COUNTIFS(AO$7:AO16,"NA", AO7:AO16,">=12/31/2016")

The range in AO7:AO16 is the following:
27-Jun-17

8-Aug-17
na

24-May-16
06-Jun-16
06-Jun-16

The formula is not counting what I need it to count, what am I doing wrong? Are the cells formatted incorrectly?

Please help me with this problem. I would like to highlight all rows where the Name and Date column values match AND the Procedures listed on the same date definitely has 921 listed and also has either 992, 993, 994 or a combination of these procedures listed on the same date (Each procedure is listed once in the row, so if they have 921 and 922 on one date that will be two rows). So for each matching name and date there will be at least two rows highlighted. Thank you so much!

I have 3 columns. Column 1 is a list of questions. Column 2 is Yes/No/ N/A Dropdown. Column 3 is Score. If column 2 is "Yes", put a 1 in the score column. If column 2 is a "No", put a "0". If column 2 is "N/A", don't populate the cell with anything. What I want to do is have Excel count all cells in column 3 that have a value (1 or 0), then calculate the number of 1's against the full count and place the percentage at the top of the Score Column (Cell F3)

Just an FYI... the first part is already done (Yes/No/N/A translating to a value of 1 or 0). I'm trying to figure out how to calculate the score (by percentage) and place it at the top of the Score column

Dan:
I guess the easiest way to do what you want is to use the functions COUNTIF and COUNTA.
Where the scores are in C51:C57 the formula is:
=COUNTIF(C51:C57,1)
then to get the total number of non-empty cells the formula is: =COUNTA(C51:C57)
So if you enter these formulae in D4 and D5 respectively
the percentage is derived by D4/D5 and format the cell as percentage.

I want to count for example how many times "L1/2" appears in the range A1:A238. When I use the function =COUNTIF(A1:A238, "L1/2") it gives me the answer two, but I think it is only counting cells that contain only "L1/2" and not perhaps those that contain "L1/2, L2/3, L3/4".

I would like to count every time L1/2 is listed in the range from A1:A238

Rusty:
As you have discovered COUNTIF will not work in this situation. Instead, you'll need to use SUMPRODUCT, ISNUMBER and FIND or SEARCH.
SEARCH is not case sensitive, FIND is case sensitive and both will return a position which ISNUMBER returns as a hit and then SUMPRODUCT returns as the sum of the hits.
The formula will look like this:
=SUMPRODUCT(--(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("L1/2",A1:A238))))

Column A contains as follows: A1"2";A2"4";A3"7";A4"6";A5"8";A6"5";A7"9";A8"3";A9"1";
and in C1 I gave "6" and in C2 I gave "9"
In D2 I give the formula that gets me the result "6" that is the position of 9 from the digit 6 is 6 counting from the row which contains the value equal to C1 i.e."6" in Column "A" and that is the beginning of the count then it counts upward and if the value equivalent to the cell C2 i.e. "9" is not fount then it continues from the bottom i.e. cell "A9" which has the value 1 in it and reaches the cell "A7" that contains the value 9 but either of the one should be excluded from the final count and state me the result i.e. "6". Which formula can I use here and what are the arguments or options in MS Excel fir this?
Expect your reply.. I am hopeless searching for this method for long time.. Please help me if you know this to do.. Thanks in advance
And also if I give 2 it should get the value of the cell which is second in upward counting of rows from the previous cell value that equals a value in a range..

May be simple answer to this but still finding my feet in excel.
I have a report that generates a list of dates and times like this (its all in the one cell. i.e. "16/10/2018 7:22:06 AM +10:00" is all in one cell):

I am trying to add the total number of hours I have worked, out of a grand total (in this example 75 hours). Can I display the sum to read, for example, 48/75 to represent 48 hours of the total 75 hours needed?
Thanks for your help.

How can I do this -
I am on Sheet2, looking for number of count of more than 80% from Sheet1. In Sheet1 there is coloum matching for "product" , "date" & "percentage". In the Sheet2 item matching from date & product. Can you please suggest me What formula I need to use to get the answer?
thanks for your help in advance

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